


Communication is key, they say

by Ellana17



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Awkward flirting in a foreign language, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Langst, Language Barrier, M/M, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 10:19:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11311341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellana17/pseuds/Ellana17
Summary: They already had communication issues before…Or: a malfunction with a healing pod leaves Lance able to speak only Spanish for a few days.





	Communication is key, they say

**Author's Note:**

> I watched a few episodes in Spanish just for fun like I usually do and this happened. I don’t know what that says about me except that I love Bilingual!Lance.

Pidge kept biting her fingernails as she looked at Lance’s face through the healing pod. The blue Paladin had taken a hit trying to protect her a few hours prior and, although Coran had assured them Lance was going to make it, Pidge could not help but worry about her friend. Pidge scrambled to her feet just in time to catch Lance as he came out of the pod.

“Mierda,” the boy groaned.

“Lance!” Pidge sighed in relief.

Lance winced. “Estoy bien. ¿Qué pasó?”

Pidge froze. “You do know I don’t speak Spanish, right?” she asked him slowly. Lance stared at her blankly. Why was she suddenly talking gibberish? Pidge’s eyes got wide. “Oh, crap! Lance, can you understand me at all?” She sounded frantic. “Can you… I mean… ¿Puedes tú… understand… shit. Shiro!” she exclaimed. “I need help in here!”

Lance had no idea what was happening or why Pidge sounded so scared all of a sudden. And why could he not understand her? The blue Paladin jumped in fright when his teammates suddenly barged into the room, weapons at the ready.

“What? Who do we need to kill?” That was Hunk, although Lance had absolutely no idea what the sounds coming out of his mouth actually meant. Shit, that was not only Pidge Lance could not understand anymore. What the hell?

Keith made his way to Lance as Shiro rushed to Pidge’s side. The two of them started talking in earnest. Wow, Shiro looked really freaked out. Lance tried to not let fear overwhelm him.

Keith glanced at him worryingly. Lance stared at Keith’s lips as the boy talked, trying desperately to understand him, but it was no use. Lance knew he should be able to understand what the boy was saying but he could not. He was left to stare at Keith questioningly.

“¡Qué raro!” he mused.

Lance saw Keith’s eyes widen. The red Paladin took a step back and Lance took a step forward, still focused on Keith’s lips as the boy kept talking. If Lance could only understand what he was saying… Keith’s put both hands on Lance’s shoulders to keep him from getting any closer. Right. This was getting awkward. Allura’s voice made Lance look away in surprise. He had not even noticed her coming in.

Judging by the concerned looks on his teammates’ faces and Pidge’s high pitched-voice, Lance deduced his friends were starting to realize what had actually happened. The pod must have had malfunctioned and now Lance could not understand English anymore.

“¡No! ¡No! ¡No!” he exclaimed, pressing both hands to his ears and closing his eyes. He shook his head frantically. “¡Esto es una pesadilla!”

He felt two strong hands closing around his wrists, gently lowering his arms. When he opened his eyes he came face to face with Shiro. “Tranquilo,” Shiro said quietly. “Está bien. No pasa nada.”

Lance blinked away the tears that had gathered in his eyes. Since when had Shiro been able to speak Spanish? The black Paladin made quick work of explaining what Lance had already guessed.

“I heard about people coming out of a coma and not being able to understand their own language,” Pidge said. “It’ll probably take him a few days to go back to normal.”

“But he wasn’t in a coma!” Keith exclaimed, panic written all over his face.

“This could actually be an opportunity for you all,” Allura stated confidently. Lance squinted at her. “Until we find a solution, you will have to work together and trust each other without relying on verbal communication alone. It could highly improve your teamwork.”

Lance turned to Shiro for an explanation and frowned. Team bonding? That was the princess’ bright idea? Un-belie-vable. He stormed out of the room.

“Lance!” Hunk called, running after him. Lance slowed down as Hunk caught up with him. “How are you doing, buddy?” Lance had no choice but glancing at Hunk. He hated to admit it but Allura might have a point. For the time being, Lance had no other choice but paying closer attention to his friends’ body language. “¿Estás bien?” Hunk asked slowly, scrunching his face in concentration. Lance smiled. “And that’s about the extent of Spanish I know,” Hunk stated, reversing back to English. “Come on,” he said, lightly touching Lance’s arm to get his attention. “I’ll make you something to eat.”

Interacting with Hunk turned out easier than Lance would have thought. There was a reason the guy was his best friend after all. Lance sat down and let Hunk babble away as he walked around the kitchen, gathering weird-looking ingredients and throwing it all in something resembling a bowl. Lance was trying to appear calm and collected but he was really freaking out on the inside. He could not voice any of that of course. Well, he could but no one would be able to understand him and that was precisely the issue here. Lance needed to be heard, he needed to interact with people, and most of all he needed to actually understand what his friends were telling him. It had only been a few Dobashes since the whole ordeal had begun and Lance already felt like he was loosing his mind at an alarming rate. Plus, all these people talking gibberish around him were starting to give him a headache. The boy groaned and buried his face in the crook of his arm.

“Hey buddy,” Hunk touched his shoulder to get his attention. Lance lifted his head and his eyes widened when he saw the content of the plate Hunk was presenting him; something vaguely resembling…

“¿Hiciste panqueques?” he exclaimed, delighted. His mouth watered.

“ _Panqueques_? Yes, pancakes, I made you pancakes,” Hunk nodded vigorously. They grinned at each other. “Dig in,” he told Lance, pushing the plate toward his teammate.

Lance took a mouthful and hummed in delight. “¡Son geniales!” he exclaimed, accompanying his statement with a thumbs up.

The two boys had wolfed down the whole stack of pancakes by the time Pidge entered the room. She made a beeline for Lance, clearly distressed, and took one of his hands in hers. “Lance, I’m so _so_ sorry. This is all my fault, you were trying to protect me and… Lo siento muchos,” she said.

“Se dice _mucho_ ,” he told her softly. Pidge frowned. “Mucho,” he insisted.

“Right,” Pidge said sheepishly. “Lo siento mucho.”

Lance patted her hands. “Estoy bien. No te preocupes,” he said in an effort to put up a brave front. He ruffled her hair and stood up. “Necesito hablar con Shiro,” he explained, pointing both hands to the door in one swift movement. “¡Chao pescao!”

The last thing he saw when he exited the room was Pidge and Hunk glancing at each other in confusion. Lance walked to the bridge where he found Shiro and Allura arguing loudly. Lance took a step forward.

“Perdón por interrumpir,” he cut in.

He recoiled when Shiro and Allura both turned their glares to him. Allura’s expression changed as soon as she recognized him though and gave him a reassuring smile, beckoned him forward with a wave of the hand.

“Shiro, necesito hablar contigo,” Lance mumbled, fidgeting with his hands. He wondered what Shiro and Allura had been arguing about.

Shiro nodded. He said something to Allura that Lance did not understand. The princess nodded and turned around stiffly. She patted Lance’s shoulder and sent one last glare to Shiro on the way out.

As soon as Allura left the room, Lance’s face crumbled. He had tried to be strong but this was just too much. Lance needed to be heard. He needed to joke around. He had a big mouth; that was both his greatest quality and his greatest weakness. Coming from a large family, Lance had learned early on that he needed to be just as loud or even louder than his brothers and sisters if he wanted to be heard. It was so confusing not being able to count on his wit and humor to go through his day. He felt on edge.

Shiro drew him into a hug and Lance broke down crying. Between sobs, he managed to tell his leader and friend how worried he was about his place on the team. How were they even going to form Voltron if they could not understand each other? What if they did not find a solution? What if Lance was stuck like this forever?

Shiro let him get all this off his chest without interrupting. Once Lance had calmed down enough to listen to him, Shiro was quick to reassure him. They were a team and they would go through this together.

“¿Qué ocurrirá si no podemos arreglarlo?” he asked, drying his tears with his sleeve. “Mis amigos no me comprenden. Ya no puedo hablar, Shiro. Sin mi voz cómo…” He sniffed ungraciously.

“Confía en ellos,” Shiro told him reassuringly. Then a look of realization crossed his face. He grinned.

Lance’s eyes got wide. “¡No! Shiro, ya sé lo que vas a decir.”

“No olvides que tan solo tu belleza es más que suficiente,” Shiro quoted.

Lance groaned in annoyance. “¡Venga! ¡No es gracioso!” he said. He grinned nonetheless and rubbed his eyes one last time.

Now that he could actually think straight, Lance asked Shiro about his surprising fluency in Spanish and found out that the guy actually learned from his sister-in-law and her kids. He hated to admit it but it seemed like Allura was right once more. They still had a lot to learn about each other.

Lance skipped dinner that night. The blue Paladin was feeling much calmer after his conversation with Shiro but he also felt utterly exhausted. He dragged his feet to his room and buried his face in his pillow. Lance rolled over only a few minutes later, groaning. Lance pressed both hands to his face and sighed. Well, at least his headache had gone away. He finally started to hum to fill the silence. It was an old song his mom used to sing and Lance was surprised to remember it after all these years.

A sudden knock on the door made him flinch. He groaned and slowly got up.

“¿Keith?” he said groggily, surprised to find the red Paladin at his door this late.

His teammate seemed hesitant. “Look,” Keith finally said. “You probably won’t understand a word of what I’m about to say anyway but I’m really sorry for what happened today.” Keith seemed upset, that much was made obvious by the way he could not meet Lance’s eyes. The red Paladin also kept wringing his hands, Lance noticed.

“¿Sabes que no comprendo ni una palabra de lo que estás diciendo?” Lance grinned. He had to resist the urge to get closer and try to understand the meaning of his words in Keith’s eyes.

“And I know that we don’t always see eye to eye but I want you to know that if you need anything – anything at all – you can always come to me, okay?”

Keith looked at him expectantly then but Lance only shrugged. It sucked that he could not understand what had apparently been an emotional speech, and he told Keith as much.

“Me gusta el sonido de tu voz,” Lance whispered.

“I’ll leave you alone then, I’m sure you need rest after today,” Keith stammered. “Huh. Good night.”

Lance watched him go, utterly confused. “Buenas noches,” he sighed before getting back to bed.

ooo

After opening his eyes, it took Lance a moment to realize that the piercing sound that had woken him up was the castle alarm. Lance left his room in a hurry and ran straight to the bridge.

“¿Qué pasa?” he exclaimed, rushing inside the room. Shiro and Allura turned to him. Keith nearly ran into him when he entered the room, followed by Pidge and Hunk.

“What’s going on?” Keith asked, Bayard in hand. “Are we under attack?”

Taking a look to his teammates, the pillow case marks on Keith’s cheeks, Pidge’s crocked glasses and Hunk’s bloodshot eyes, Lance sure hoped that Zarkon had not suddenly decided to attack them in the middle of night.

“We received a distress signal,” Allura said, pointing at the red dot blinking on the display. “A Galra squadron has started an attack on a small planet and the inhabitants are requiring our help to stop them.”

Lance nudged Shiro’s side discreetly and gave him a pointed look. Shiro’s eyes got wide as he started translating at once for Lance’s benefit, throwing in an apology to the boy. Lance tried to not take it personally, after all he would have loved to forget what had unfortunately happened to him the day before.

The team had just enough time to finish their short briefing before the Castle got into orbit. The Paladins rushed head first into a fight that had already been well underway before they even arrived in this part of the galaxy. The Galra forces were firing the planet’s defenses on the ground. The team knew there was no point in forming Voltron now, the Galra forces were by far outnumbering them. Lance did his best to tune out the team’s chatter as there was no point listening when he had no idea what they were saying anyway. At least Blue still understood him, Lance realized. Their telepathic bond was apparently stronger than any language barrier. Lance threw everything he had at the Galra forces. Maybe he was not so useless after all. Lance focused on the ship that was almost within range…

“Lance! Look out!” Keith exclaimed. Lance had just enough time to shoot before the Red Lion collided with Blue full force.

“¡Mierda!” Lance exclaimed. “¿Qué pasa contigo, Keith?” he asked angrily.

Judging by the sparks on Red’s rear, Keith had definitely taken a hit for him. That crazy bastard.

When the Paladins made their way back to the castle, Lance took off his helmet and immediately marched to Keith, ignoring the other members of the team.

“¡Estás loco!” Lance exclaimed, shoving a finger against Keith’s chest. He noticed Keith bemused look and glared only harder. “¡Eres un… eres un idiota!” he went on. “¡No puedes arriesgar tu vida para salvarme! ¡No necesito tu ayuda!”

Keith’s eyes had gotten very wide as Lance gave him a piece of his mind. After a second of awkward silence, Lance took notice of Keith’s flushed cheeks, Pidge’s round eyes, Hunk’s nervous fidgeting and Shiro’s incredulous look. Right, Shiro had been the only one to understand him. Lance bit down on his lip in frustration. He wanted to throw something, or punch someone, preferably Keith, or yell and stamp his foot, but he knew better. Lance glared at them all before storming out.

The blue Paladin only came out of his room for lunch. Looking back on it, he probably had overreacted earlier but this whole situation had him on edge. Lance was angry with Keith for risking his life for him and he could not fathom why. He just knew that Keith needed to stop playing hero. He needed to be safe. Lance needed him to be safe.

Lance sat down in the dinning-room with Pidge and Hunk and managed a smile for their sake. His two friends were acting weird, though. Pidge kept nudging Hunk until the yellow Paladin discreetly grabbed some notecards in his back pocket. Lance smiled at their antics. He realized what was actually happening the moment Hunk and Pidge started talking to him. It took him a few seconds to realize he could actually understand them.

Lance grabbed one of the cards from Pidge’s hands. They were handwritten and contained a few key sentences in Spanish. Lance burst out laughing. He had such amazing friends.

“¡Genial!” he exclaimed. “¿Shiro os ha dado eso?”

Hunk started rummaging through the notecards frantically. “Where is it? I know it’s here somewhere,” he mumbled. “Ha ha!” he exclaimed as he waved one of the cards in the air. Hunk cleared his throat and carefully read a few sentences explaining what Lance had already guessed: Shiro had prepared a few basic sentences and words for them in order to ease communication a bit. It somewhat facilitated basic exchange and would be no good in the long run or even on a mission but Lance really appreciated the thought behind the gesture.

Before leaving the room some time later, Lance made sure to hug both his friends and ruffled Pidge’s hair, causing her to glare at him behind her glasses.

“I can’t believe Keith wasn’t there for this,” Pidge whispered as Lance left the room.

“Yeah, I mean the cards were his idea to begin with.”

“I know, right!”

Lance walked along the halls and decided not to read too much into the fact that he somehow ended up on the training deck. Keith turned his head toward Lance as soon as he heard his teammate walk in and the sentry he was fighting did not miss the opening.

“¡Ojo!” Lance shouted on instinct.

The warning was no good though; Keith fell flat on his butt with a grunt of pain.

“End training simulation,” they both said at the same time, and the sentry vanished.

Lance helped Keith up and grinned at the sheepish look on his teammate’s face. Keith grumbled something resembling a thank you, which Lance did not actually understand, and he grinned some more at how ridiculous the whole situation was. He waved awkwardly, at a loss for words. Now that Keith was standing in front of him, Lance realized that he wanted to apologize for overreacting earlier and actually thank Keith for saving his life. The red Paladin was trying to tell him something too and neither of them understood what the other was trying to convey. Lance’s good mood rapidly turned into sheer frustration.

“…I reacting on instinct, I know you’re pissed off but I couldn’t let you die!”

Lance rolled his eyes. Their conversation was leading nowhere and Lance was sick of feeling so helpless and frustrated. He decided to drag Keith into a sparring match, as it did not require either of them to talk.

After that, Lance realized that he could spend time with his friends without having to talk. That was not ideal, and if he was being honest with himself, it was pure torture not being able to convey what he was thinking. Lance kept sparring with Keith, went flying with Hunk, and played chess with Pidge.

Lance found himself talking with his hands a lot, as if that would help convey his meaning better. He also made a lot of faces without really meaning to. His friends started doing the same without even realizing it and Lance could not help but think the bunch of them looked ridiculous. More often than not, he found himself staring into Keith’s eyes or smiling at him. He also realized over time that, except for their sparring matches, Keith tended to avoid him as much as possible during the day. Lance tried not to read too much into it. The whole situation was already too complicated without trying to decipher Keith’s strange behavior.

ooo

Lance did not want the current situation to become the new normal. With each passing day, Lance realized that there was nothing they could do except wait for him to heal. Pidge still performed daily examinations to check on his progress but Lance’s frustration only grew stronger. Even the fact that they seemed to work better as a team these days was not enough to cheer him up.

The team had just rescued a group of people on a mining planet. The mission had run smoothly and none of them had been even close to getting injured. They counted it as a win, so why was Lance feeling so down? The blue Paladin fell into steps behind his teammates as they all made their way to a small village nearby, talking and laughing. Lance grumbled and kicked a rock that had been on his way. A sharp pain ran all the way up his leg and he let out a cry of pain. He cursed. Loudly. The merry band kept going without even batting an eyelash.

In that moment, Lance truly realized that they could not understand anything he said. At all. It hit him like a ton of bricks. Feeling suddenly giddy, Lance turned to Keith in earnest.

“¿Keith?” The boy stopped mid-sentence and turned to Lance, surprised. “Eres muy hermoso,” he stated. Keith stared at him blankly.

Lance noticed from the corner of his eye that Shiro, on the other hand, had turned as white as a sheet. Crap. Lance would have to remember that Shiro was actually able to understand what he was saying. Lance grinned and gestured for Keith to go back to his conversation.

This was going to be fun.

In the couple days following his epiphany, Lance started to talk a lot more. He started off with small things: telling Pidge and Hunk how grateful he was for their friendship, using a lot of terms of endearment he knew did not feature on their notecards and complimenting Allura at every turn.

The whole ordeal had him more in touch with everybody’s body language as well. Lance now understood Allura simply by looking at the shifts in her smile. Coran had always been the most expressive of them all, so Lance had actually no problem understanding him and the both of them chatted through hand gestures and funny faces. Pidge and Hunk were alternating between looking amused and worried about him. Shiro mostly looked like he was trying hard not to laugh every time he overheard Lance wax poetic about Keith’s eyes. As for the red Paladin… Well, he was constantly red in the face these days. So much so that Lance actually wondered a few times if the guy had not been understanding him the whole time. Lance could not for the life of him fathom Keith’s sudden discomfort.

The two of them spent a lot of time together these days and Lance could not explain it. Maybe the fact that they could not understand one another made it impossible for them to argue. Maybe expressing his attraction to his teammate honestly instead of teasing him relentlessly made them less prone to starting a fight. Either way, Lance realized that once he had started it, he could not stop complimenting Keith on his smile, his laugh, his eyes… Lance found that he could go on for hours.

Lance was actually doing it right now, as they left the training deck together. The boy was going on and on about how much he loved sparring with Keith. He walked backwards, waving his arms around as he mimicked Keith swinging his Bayard and he knew Keith was just humoring him at that point. Keith fighting skills truly were amazing and for once Lance could tell him as much without covering it up with sarcasm. Lance realized he might have drift a bit from his initial point when he ended up complimenting Keith on the way his body moved during a fight and telling him how much of a turn on that actually was.

“And it’s so unfair because I’m like half in love with you already and I know you won’t ever feel the same.” Keith froze. “Keith? You okay there, buddy? What’s… I'm speaking English right now, aren't I?” Lance asked warily.

Keith nodded slowly, apparently unable to utter even a word.

“Shit,” Lance groaned. “Look, I’m really sorry, okay?” he mumbled, turning around quickly.

In the next second, Lance found himself pressed against Keith’s chest after the other boy grabbed his arm and pulled Lance to him. It took him a second to understand that Keith was kissing him. Once he did though, Lance tilted his head just a bit and grabbed Keith’s shoulders with more force than intended.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for days,” Keith said breathlessly.

“Days?” Lance exclaimed. “Try weeks!” he said, gently pushing Keith against the wall before kissing him again. “Keith…” he sighed. “Are you…?” he asked in amazement.

Keith rested his head against Lance’s shoulder and took a deep breath. “Sorry. It’s been a rough few days.”

Lance’s eyes got wide. “Wait, does this mean… You got turned on when I spoke Spanish? Keith? That’s why you were trying to avoid me!” he realized in a daze. When the boy did not answer, Lance gently pressed his lips against Keith’s. “Keith, buddy, talk to me,” he whispered.

They were so lost in each other they did not hear Pidge running down the hall.

“Lance! I got your last results!” she exclaimed. “You should get back to… normal… crap, sorry guys,” she said awkwardly.

Lance glanced at her. “Pidge, I love you but your timing really sucks,” he stated.

He felt Keith’s chest move against his and realized that the guy was laughing quietly.

Pidge cleared her throat. “Right,” she said. “Well, I’m glad you’re back to speaking English, Lance. I’ll just let you guys get back to it then,” she added.

“You do that,” Lance said, not unpleasantly.

“Okay, bye.” They heard her giggle as she walked away.

“Now, where were we?” Lance asked unnecessarily. “Oh yeah, you were going to tell me all about your rough week, or should I say _hard_ week?”

Keith glared at him. “I hate you so much.”

“No, you don’t,” Lance stated.

“I don’t,” Keith agreed. “And that thing you said,” he mumbled, resting his forehead against Lance’s shoulder and closing his eyes. “I am too, you know.”

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> Well, my head kinda feels like a smashed egg after this. Here’s the translation into English:
> 
> ¡Mierda! - Fuck!  
> Estoy bien. ¿Qué pasó? - I’m fine. What happened?  
> ¡Qué raro! - Strange…  
> ¡No! ¡No! ¡No! ¡Esto es una pesadilla! - No! No! No! This is a nightmare!  
> Tranquilo. Está bien. No pasa nada. - Calm down, it’s okay.  
> ¿Hiciste panqueques? - You made pancakes?  
> ¡Son geniales! - They’re really good!  
> Estoy bien. No te preocupes. - I’m fine, don’t worry about it.  
> Necesito hablar con Shiro. ¡Chao pescao! - I need to talk to Shiro. See you guys later.  
> Perdón por interrumpir. Shiro, necesito hablar contigo. - Sorry. Shiro, I need to talk to you.  
> ¿Qué ocurrirá si no podemos arreglarlo? Mis amigos no me comprenden. Ya no puedo hablar, Shiro. Sin mi voz cómo… - What will happen if we can’t fix this? I can’t talk, Shiro! Without my voice, how can I-  
> Confía en ellos. - Trust in them.  
> ¡No! Shiro, ya sé lo que vas a decir. - Shiro, no! I know what you’re going to say!  
> No olvides que tan solo tu belleza es más que suficiente. - Don't underestimate the importance of body language!  
> ¡Venga! ¡No es gracioso! - Come on! It’s not funny!  
> ¿Sabes que no comprendo ni una palabra de lo que estás diciendo? - You do know I don’t understand a word of what you’re saying, right?  
> Me gusta el sonido de tu voz. - I like hearing your voice.  
> Buenas noches. - Good night.  
> ¿Qué pasa? - What’s going on?  
> ¿Qué pasa contigo, Keith? - What’s your problem, Keith?  
> ¡Estás loco! ¡Eres un… eres un idiota! ¡No puedes arriesgar tu vida para salvarme! ¡No necesito tu ayuda! - Are you crazy? What an idiot! You can’t risk your life to save me! I don't need your help!  
> ¡Genial! ¿Shiro os ha dado eso? - Great! Did Shiro give you those?  
> ¡Ojo! - Look out!  
> Eres muy hermoso. - You’re very handsome.
> 
>  
> 
> And just for fun, if you guys haven’t seen this video before, it’s hilarious:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY&index=1189&list=LLTQ3gvofP3ZRVA-ngp1sQ_Q


End file.
